ENDOCRINE MECHANISMS AND HORMONE ACTION IN CANCER PROGRAM The Endocrine Mechanisms and Hormone Action in Cancer (EMHAC) Program is a new cancer center program, initiated in 2006. The overall goal of the program is to discover molecular alterations and signatures of hormone-related cancer and translate these findings into new strategies for effective detection, diagnosis, and cure. The program maintains a focus on translational. research on tumors arising from hormone-responsive tissues, including breast and prostate. Three program areas of focus include: 1) detection and diagnosis, 2) prognosis and progression, and 3) targets and therapy. The main specific Scientific Goals of the program are to: Develop innovative strategies and technologies for early detection of primary cancer and monitoring of therapy response and disease recurrence. Improve diagnostic tumor classification, prognostic and predictive marker analyses, and design of pre-clinical models for drug response prediction to facilitate improved tailored treatment. Exploit mechanisms of hormone action for molecular target identification, improved therapy, and prevention of hormone responsive cancer. Several collaborative initiatives are ongoing between the 15 members from 6 departments, supported by peer-reviewed funding of $4.2 million ($2.7 NCI) per year. An P01 program project grant proposal on breast cancer has been submitted from the program. Although this is a new program, several program members have worked collaboratively over many years, with more than 100 joint publications. Since the program's inception in 2006, there have been more than 20 intra-programmatic publications.